Economic Justice

"All economic life should be shaped by moral principles. Economic choices and institutions must be judged by how they protect or undermine the life and dignity of the human person, support the family, and serve the common good."

A Catholic Framework for Economic Life
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1996

California’s Legislature this week approved a new $183 billion dollar State Budget and in the process established priorities that encompass “profound moral questions about who are we as a society, how we view our future and whether as a people we can look beyond our own self-interest to the interest of the larger society.” (In Search of the Common Good)

California’s Legislature this week approved a new $183 billion dollar State Budget and in the process established priorities that encompass “profound moral questions about who are we as a society, how we view our future and whether as a people we can look beyond our own self-interest to the interest of the larger society.” (In Search of the Common Good)

California’s Legislature this week approved a new $183 billion dollar State Budget and in the process established priorities that encompass “profound moral questions about who are we as a society, how we view our future and whether as a people we can look beyond our own self-interest to the interest of the larger society.” (In Search of the Common Good)

During the next few weeks, the California legislature will focus on the state budget. With a supermajority, California Democrats will be in full control of the process but it is unlikely to be smooth sailing for them.

State tax revenue is coming in significantly below projections. A recently enacted gas tax increase has put some Democrats on the hot seat. Even within the Democratic Party business interests have helped elect more “moderate” Democrats who do not always have the same priorities as the state party.

While California is known for being one of the nation’s wealthiest states with a median household income of approximately $61,818 per year, and with a larger economy than all but five nations worldwide, we are also becoming the United States’ leader in poverty and childhood poverty rates.

The word ‘cultivate’ calls to mind the care which the farmer has for his land in order that it bear fruits and that they be shared: how much passion, how much attention, how much dedication in all that this demands! That familiar relationship is formed and the earth becomes “sister” earth. -Pope Francis, January 31, 2015